Blacks fare worse in study
UC Davis explores breast cancer survival rates
SACRAMENTO - Black women have lower survival rates of breast cancer than their white and Latina counterparts regardless of radiation therapy following lumpectomy or mastectomy, University of California, Davis, researchers have found.
Steve Martinez, assistant professor of surgery at UC Davis Cancer Center, determined that while Latina and blacks with an advanced stage are less likely to receive radiation therapy than whites, only blacks have poorer outcomes than white patients with the same-stage disease.
The findings, presented Tuesday in Washington at an Association for Clinical Research Training and the Society for Clinical and Translational Science meeting, suggest the lack of radiation-therapy treatment is not responsible for the poorer survival noted among black patients.
"Is this a biological difference? Do black patients benefit from post-surgery radiation therapy to the degree that Hispanics and whites benefit?" Martinez asked.
These questions are part of Martinez's ongoing exploration of cancer health disparities as they affect patients' response to